A question on behalf of DH

[Alibabaandthe80nappies]

DH works in IT, pretty senior. In the past it has never been necessary for him to be more than averagely smart, but he's climbing the ladder now and is more bothered about what he's wearing. In fact up to a year ago he frequently used to wear standard techie-uniform of trousers and then a polo shirt to work because he was crawling about in a datacenter building kit. He now needs to go and have meetings with senior people at investment banks, so it is a bit of a change for him.

For a reason unknown to me, he has bought himself a new black suit that he wants to wear to the office. I have pointed out that this isn't the greatest choice in terms of what shirt and tie to wear with it, but there we are. And he looks really good in a nice dark grey or navy suit which is much easier in terms of shirts.

So, what can he wear with his black suit? A white shirt, and then what tie? Red? Grey?

Are there any other options than white for the shirt?

Pale blue for shirt? I also like the look of checked shirts - TM Lewin have lots of really nice ones that would look great with a black suit.

Personally I like a dark shirt with a dark suit - purple or red for example. But that's what my DH would wear for a wedding or something (very casual wear for work) so maybe a bit too formal?

For the shirt pink, lilac, stripes based on a white background ?

I think pale or sky blue would be nice.

A black suit can take all sorts of colours. Please don't do white shirt/ grey/ red tie- unless you want him to look like a school boy or waiter!

DH wears his black suit with pink/ lilac/ blue/ striped/ green, even floral etc (he can take colours well).
For me the decider is all about the quality of the shirt & tie- his "best" combos are often from Ted Baker- a green and white jaquard stripe shirt and "archive collection" green, black and tiny bit of red silk tie. The detail can be quite subtle but good quality lifts a shirt above ordinary level. Honestly- go and ask the sales guys there. If Ted B isn't your budget- take inspiration from there. M&S do decent shirts in the fancier collection "Italian fabric" etc.

Pink is the correct colour for men's shirts.

With a black suit, you can go for a deeper shade of pink. Purple and lilac have also been mentioned and would be good.

(But what do I know? I do anything to avoid wearing a suit to work.)

Thanks everyone, some food for thought.

FGM - floral and green? For a business meeting in the City? I'm not sure :)

He has a couple of very nice pale blue shirts so we will try those and have a think about ties.

Tougher - I agree that a dark shirt can look nice with a dark suit, but I don't see it as a business look. Wedding yes, meeting no.